Incident
by OllCat217
Summary: A girl in Wales is bullied at her school. One day she suffers what is made out to be a tragic accident by her tormentors. The world believes she is dead. The reality is very different...
1. Prologue

Prologue

The incident happened twenty nine vorns ago. That's two thousand, four hundred and seven earth years ago. The incident changed my life. Mostly for the worst. Then Hunter came along and made things a bit better but it was _very_ weird for a bit. But he's been really good about this whole thing. Took me a while to realise how good, but I was…distracted by various other things at that time.

I guess this all started when I moved schools. You wouldn't think going from England to Wales would be that big a shift. They're next door. Both part of the United Kingdom. But it is different. Different language (even if no one speaks it much any more). Different accent. Different attitude. And I didn't fit.

Things were bad until I got to high school. Up until then, I had no friends. At all. I had one in high school, but she left me for her boyfriend (who dumped her shortly afterwards, by the way). Then I went back to being a loner. I didn't mind it by then. I'd got used to it and thought nothing would ever come of it.

If only I knew…

You see, there was a group of three people who used to pick on me. Two boys and a girl. The boys were thugs, barely capable of stringing a sentence together. She was the complete opposite. Scrawny, weedy, but clever. Frighteningly clever. She and I were always equal in brainpower, but what made her scary was her determination to do all that she could to ruin my existence.

And one day, she did.

I didn't want to write this down at first, but Hunter made me. Now I'm glad he did. I didn't realise how much I'd forgotten. He says I need to remember. He wants me (oddly) to 'cling on' to my humanity, even though I lost it on that fateful day. Maybe he thinks it's attractive.

But I never could resist him.

I'll try to put down as much as possible, but I can't promise anything. My memory, advanced as it is now, is a bit hazy when it comes to the human side of things. I can remember the important bits, and Hunter has said he'll help where he can but the first part of this might be a bit disorganised. And Hunter's insisting that I write the Welsh accents phonetically to 'retain cultural integrity' apparently. So this means ear becomes 'yer' and heard becomes 'heared' etc. this seems strange to me, but unfortunately Prowl _somehow _got wind of it and ordered me to. He said something about preserving cultural integrity as well.

So I should get on with this. I've got a feeling it'll bring back memories I would rather have kept buried. Memories I did keep buried. This'll probably be messy and painful. But at least it sort of has a happy ending. I know that at least.


	2. Chapter 1

The incident happened on a sunny summer Tuesday afternoon. My last lesson of the day was Welsh, which at the time I was terrible at. One of the few advantages of the incident was that I was able to become very fluent in many languages very quickly. Not that that was any consolation.

I was walking across the playing fields on this particular Tuesday, which ended less than fifty feet from an abandoned quarry. This wouldn't have seemed strange if the quarry had actually appeared deserted. It was the generator, situated between the edge of the quarry and the fence that surrounded the playing fields that gave it away. I distinctly remember that generator. Every Tuesday afternoon, the cluster of poles on the top would crackle and arc with this strange blue electricity. Nobody ever climbed over the fence on Tuesdays. I can't remember anybody climbing over the fence on any other day, but I'm sure that people did.

So as I was walking, I heard a group of people come up behind me. Three of them. I turned around. Sure enough, my tormentors had followed me. Their names, I have forgotten, but I can recall the same position they took every time we met. They would always stand directly in front of me; the girl in the middle and the boys on either side. They took up that stance again, all eyes narrowed.

"I heared that you was spreading rumours about us," the girl said while her henchmen leered.

"It's 'heard'. If you're going to make threats, then at least do it right," I grumbled.

"I don't care. You've damaged my repewtashun," she said, her face twisting into a menacing…grimace?

"Reputation," I grumbled.

"I. Don't. Care," she snapped, clearly getting frustrated that I wasn't becoming aggressive. Then she made a movement with one of her hands and the two boys started to move forwards. Now I became anxious. The girl I could take. Two boys? Both at least six foot tall, twice my weight and champion rugby players? No way.

They started hauling me towards the fence. On any other day I wouldn't have been concerned. But this was a _Tuesday. _And I was being taken straight towards the generator.

You would think my life changing experience would be burned into my memory. It isn't. It's another vague bit. I remember them lugging me over the fence. I remember them tossing me onto the roof of the generator. I don't remember the poles going off, but they must have done, because the next bit I do remember is excruciating pain, especially in the centre of my chest. It felt like I was burning. Then I lost consciousness.

From then on, everything changed. At first I didn't realise anything was different, but once I knew what I was, nothing would ever be the same.

When I came to, there was a red headed woman in a white lab coat standing on a platform above me. I was lying on a cold, hard floor.

"So you're another one from outer space, aren't you?" she said cheerfully. Her welsh accent was thick.

Then I realised she'd said I was from outer space.

"I'm not from space," I said. My voice sounded strangely mechanical. "I'm human."

She laughed.

"You're not human!" she laughed. I tried to insist that I was, but she wasn't listening. At this point I hadn't had had a chance to look at myself, so I had no idea what the 'electricity' had done to me.

"Now we'll just run some more tests," she said, going over to a bank of computers. Before I could register what was going on, she had keyed in a command and searing bolts of light struck me. It was painful and itchy and it made me twitch violently in the restraints holding me to the floor. Until suddenly, my body spasmed so violently that my left hand broke free.

"NBE is loose!" the woman yelled, hitting an alarm on the wall and running out. I reached over to undo the other hand, but stopped when I saw my arm glinting in the light.

I stared in absolute horror at my hand. Metal. Still looked like a hand, but it was made entirely of metal. Or at least that's what I thought. Later on I learned that the metal was just protective armour and wasn't solid all the way through.

Tentatively I curled my hand into a weak fist. There was no denying it, even though I desperately wanted to believe otherwise. I watched the hand shake for a moment. Then I screamed.

I didn't know what had happened to me. Somehow I'd been turned from an ordinary human into what could only be described as a robot. Naturally I refused to believe it. Not only was it impossible, the concept of being a robot was very disturbing to me. Sometimes it still is.

In my panic, I managed to snap the other three restraints and get to my feet. The ground suddenly seemed a very long way down…

My height increase only became apparent when my head connected with the stone ceiling in a painful crash. For a moment I wondered why I could still feel pain, but then I saw that I was now about twenty feet tall.

That was the last straw. Panic reared its ugly head again. I eventually managed to get out of there, but I did smash up a lot of the room in the process.

I found myself in a pitch black…cavern? Warehouse? Whatever it was, it was big and seemingly empty. And perhaps underground.

Suddenly I heard several loud thunks. They sounded distinctly like licks. I was trapped.

I stared fearfully around the room, peering into the darkness. There was a strange blue light coming from somewhere near my head. I later figured out that the glow was emanating from my eyes.

I stood there for what seemed like hours I couldn't see more than a few feet in front of me.

Then a voice came through the inky soup.

"Are you alright? You've been stood there for a while."

I froze. I heard movement from somewhere, but I couldn't pinpoint it. Then a pair of blue lights started moving towards me. I could feel the air moving, suggesting that there was something moving and stirring up the currents, but I couldn't see anything.

Suddenly light exploded from somewhere in front of me. I threw my arm over my face. Then, as my eyes adjusted, I realised that they were headlights. Seemingly mounted on somebody's shoulders…

I stared. It was _another giant robot_. I hoped it wouldn't try and attack me. I didn't know what to do if it did.

"Can you speak English?" it asked slowly, it's voice low and masculine.

"Of course I can speak English," I mumbled. "I'm-was-human."

"You were human" it queried, almost blinding me with the headlights as it took a step closer.

"I shouldn't be here," I whispered, my voice cracking. Liquid began to seep down my face. At the time, I was too upset to wonder how I was able to cry as a robot.

The other robot put his arms around me and gave me a hug.

"Do you have any idea how you became a…robot?" it asked. The word sounded bitter on whatever it had for a tongue.

"Some people threw me up onto a generator and there was this blue electricity and I got knocked out and then I woke up like this!" I sobbed. Looking back, I wonder what made me trust this stranger. "Now I'm a robot!"

"You're not a robot. Let's get that straight now. I think you are an autonomous robotic organism," it said.

"What?" I snuffled.

"You're like me. You are not a human creation. You are a living organism, made from metal and wires and tubing. If my guess is correct, the Allspark fragment must have somehow altered your DNA. But I'm no expert," it said. "My name's Ratchet. I'm from a planet called Cybertron. Myself and my group came to Earth looking for the Allspark. I was captured by this organisation during an operation to retrieve it."

"So you're an alien?" I asked, my voice shaky.

"Yes," it replied.

"Are you a…male alien? I mean, your voice sounds male…" I said nervously.

"Yes," he replied. "The correct term is mech. You are a femme."

I was struggling to take all of this in. Not only was I a giant robot, the creature in front of me was an alien on a mission to recover something called the Allspark. He was also a horrendous shade of neon yellow.

I took a step away from Ratchet.

"I don't…I can't…" I said feebly. "Calm down, you'll gli-" Ratchet began, but I collapsed before he could finish.


	3. Chapter 2

I woke up lying on something warm and soft. At first I thought it had been all been a dream and I was back in bed. But that illusion was broken when Ratchet's face appeared above me.

"Hello," he said gently.

"Where am I?" I asked. My head was very fuzzy.

"Llanwern steelworks," he replied. "Our base of operations."

I sighed. The reality of my situation was weighing heavily on me. I was now a giant robot from another planet.

"I want you to come and meet our leader. He's the Prime, so maybe he'll be able to tell us what happened to you," Ratchet said, helping me sit up. He led me out of the room I was in and into what looked like a military control room. And sat at the far end was another robot.

"That is our leader, Optimus Prime," Ratchet whispered as Optimus Prime got up and made his way over to us. He was…intimidating, to say the least. He was red and blue and he was about eight or nine feet taller than me. I got the distinct impression that he could reach out and crush my head with one of his massive hands if he wanted to.

"So this is the femme Ratchet rescued," he murmured. "You were human, correct?"

"Yes," I squeaked, thoroughly intimidated by this mountain of metal.

"What's your name?" he asked gently.

"Zoe," I said.

"Do you have any idea what you are?"

"A robot?"

Wrong answer.

Optimus visibly stiffened.

"We're not robots. I told you that already. To call someone a robot on our planet is a serious insult, Zoe," Ratchet said. I was mortified.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"You didn't know. I forgive you," Optimus said. There was silence for a moment. Then Optimus strode towards me and placed both hands on either side of my head.

"Um…what are you doing?" I asked as Optimus' eyes began to glow an even brighter blue. The light seemed to expand until it engulfed me completely. Then it faded just as suddenly as it started, leaving me confused and disorientated. What I hadn't known then was that Optimus had used one of Cybertron's most sacred objects (the Matrix of Leadership) to see if I truly was a Cybertronian.

Ratchet caught me while I was staggering around and guided me to a chair.

"She is. Somehow the Allspark shard that the organisation have in their possession has turned a human into one of us," Optimus said.

"Mirage just reported in. He managed to hack into their mainframe. He found data that suggests that they were trying to find a way to use the Allspark energy to reverse ageing effects in humans. They experimented on mice and cats, but they were turned into their Cybertronian equivalents. Zoe was the first human to be dosed with Allspark energy," Ratchet said. "He'll be back in a minute.

"We can't let anyone know about Zoe. She would be exiled from the group and this would make her rehabilitation very difficult. We will have to think of something," Optimus said. He thought for a moment. Then he seemed to have an idea. "We will say you landed on Earth a few months ago and had difficulty locating us. This will explain your local knowledge as you would have spent some time among humans. We will say that you were captured by the same organisation that took Ratchet, that you escaped together and made your way back here. We will say that your language chip was removed and wiped, leaving only English behind to explain why you cannot speak Cybertronian. You are young, so excuses for lessons will not be needed, however you will require a mentor. Your new name shall be Zodiac, so if you prefer Zoe you can say that it is short for Zodiac. I hope this won't be too much for you to remember."

"Right. No problem. I can remember it," I said. "Who will my mentor be?"

"Probably Hunter," Ratchet replied. "He's the only one of us that hasn't got anything major to do."

Nerves were fluttering in my belly-well, it wasn't a belly anymore. I was never very good at getting to know people, let alone aliens. I was scared that I was going to mess something up.

A side door opened and two new robo-Cybertronians stepped in. One was white and blue and looked like a supermodel. He looked down at me, even though he was the shorter one. The other was broader in the shoulders, but had long, slender legs and a strong waist. He was a rich olive green with hints of lime on his helm and on his…helicopter blades? They fanned out from his shoulder blades, making him look bigger. And I was instantly attracted to him.

Now if that wasn't wrong, nothing was.

Three days later, I still wasn't settled. They tried to make me as comfortable as possible, but I missed things like family. Steak and chips with mayonnaise and peas. And it didn't help that the tiny village of Llanwern where my grandmother lived was just a mile away.

Then Hunter yelled at me for not concentrating while using live ammunition.

Hunter turned out to be the (God forbid) attractive olive mech that I'd met on my first day. He taught me an awful lot about war. They were training me to be a soldier.

I didn't want to be a soldier. I'm more of a natural coward, not aggressive or violent. But now I was learning how to put a gun on someone and pull the trigger.

True, they were aliens, but the idea's still the same.

I trusted Hunter to tell me at some point exactly who the enemy was. Ratchet trusted him with my secret (although I suspect he would have worked it out-he wasn't stupid.), but he wasn't the one who told me.

The enemy did.

I was at the firing range with Hunter when there was a sudden explosion from outside and the ceiling began to crack. Hunter had his battle reflexes so he got out of the way, but I was buried under a huge mound of rubble. I couldn't see anything, but I could hear two voices. They appeared to be talking about a breeding programme and needing femmes. They started to dig in the rubble. I panicked, knowing they were trying to dig me out and take me away. They were uncovering my foot…

The sound of gunfire filled me with relief. The enemy was driven away.

After I had been uncovered I was taken to a room to be debriefed. I was sat down with most of the high command. I tried to tell them what I had heard, but none of them believed me.

The scars I have today show the price I paid for their mistakes.

_AN- Llanwern steelworks and the village of the same name are both real places in South Wales, UK. The steelworks is disused, and I was looking at it the other day and I thought it would be a good place to hide some Autobots or Decepticons. So I put it in this story._


End file.
